


baby daddy

by phcbosz



Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Babies, Banter, Best Friends, Cheesy, Father-Daughter Relationship, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Parenthood, Romantic Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, listen they are adorable, mushy feelings ew, with a trademark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 00:19:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15718056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phcbosz/pseuds/phcbosz
Summary: Negan has a baby and a small meltdown. Thank god Rick is there to save the day. With a kiss.





	baby daddy

**Author's Note:**

> oh geez ive been putting off posting this for so long now bc it desperately needs to be edited but im a lazy piece of shit so here have it unedited ig

Negan looks like a mess. That’s the first thing Rick notices. The man is shirtless, his sweatpants have a hole in the crotch area, his normally slicked back hair is a ruffled mess, sticking up in all directions and his glasses sit crooked on his nose. Rick is pretty sure there are tear stains on the man’s cheeks.

After all those years Rick should be immune to a shirtless Negan, but he still has to fight down a blush. The man looks like he just had some real wild sex, and Rick wonders what he is doing there. Negan didn’t sound good on the phone, panicked and confused. Rick rushed from the station to here as fast as he could, because what else was he supposed to do?

“I didn’t know who else to call,” Negan had breathed out, and suddenly Rick was dropping everything to be there for his friend. That’s all it took, every time. Just one call, one voicemail, a one sentence text, and Rick left everything behind for Negan, most times when the man didn’t even need him.

“Thank god you are here,” Negan says as he grabs Rick by the arm, pulling him in a hug, successfully distracting Rick from his internal crisis.

Rick hugs back as best as he could, confused about what’s going on. Negan is a touchy person, sure, but hugs aren’t really his thing. Rubbing the man’s back, Rick listens as Negan breathes against his neck, warm and wet. It should not be arousing but it kind of is, and Rick can’t wait for the hug to stop before he pops a boner.

“Negan, what’s going on?” He asks, trying to think with his head and not with his… “You didn’t sound good on the phone—"

“I have a fucking kid,” Negan says against Rick’s neck, muffled and hushed. Like a secret. Disbelief radiates off Negan’s voice and Rick almost laughs.

“What?”

Pulling away from the hug Negan looks at Rick with big miserable eyes, bottom lip wobbling. “A kid. Rick. Me. I have a fucking kid.”

“Who’s kid?” Rick asks, shifting from one foot to another.

“Mine! Are you even listening?” Negan snaps, huffing out an annoyed breath. Rick refrains from rolling his eyes.

“No, I mean, who’s the mom?”

“Amber, I think,” Negan shrugs, looking unsure. “She left a fucking note and instructions and shit.”

A note. Instructions. Rick’s mouth falls open as he momentarily gets dizzy. “You mean the baby is here right now?” He can’t help but yell and Negan flinches, caught off guard. Rick is not a loud person.

“Yeah.”

Rick pushes past Negan, speed walking to the living room. He feels like he is walking in a crime scene by the way the baby bottle on the coffee table and the used diaper on the ground makes him feel. And right in the middle, on the ugly sofa, is a baby carriage.

The baby looks nothing like Negan, but that’s probably to be expected because babies never look like their parents at first. Rick’s guess is that they are six months old, and he feels something tug at his heart. Only six months old and abandoned by their mom.

“It’s beautiful, right?” Negan’s voice right behind him makes him almost jump. “I mean, of course it is, it’s my baby after all, but damn, Rick, that’s fucking something else, Rick, I mean, just look at those chubby little cheeks, that’s fucking adorable. Like, tell me if it isn’t the most beautiful baby you have ever fucking seen—”

“Stop calling them ‘it’” Rick interrupts Negan’s rambling, taking in the baby’s appearance. They have just a small tuff of hair, dark brown. Negan is right about the chubby cheeks too, Rick has to admit, it is adorable.

“Oh,” Negan breathes out. “Right. Yeah. That’s—I meant she. She is really beautiful,” Rick’s rolls his eyes, opening his mouth to tell Negan something, anything, because bragging about himself using his baby is just not acceptable but then he forgets how to speak when he looks up.

Negan doesn’t even notice him staring, still looking down at the baby—his baby, with what can Rick only describe as pure adoration. He looks young like this, without those worry lines that adorn his face or the glint of annoyance in his eyes that never leaves. He looks young and pure and happy and for a brief second, Rick’s chokes on his breath.

He snaps out of it easily -he is partially immune to Negan looking like everything at this point- before Negan can notice him gaping with probably drool coming out of his mouth. He clears his throat, thinking of something to say because he can’t let Negan know the affect he is having on Rick. The man would give him hell. “Is that your t-shirt she is wearing?”

Negan nods, finally looking away from the baby and losing that boyish smile which is good because Rick isn’t sure how much more his heart can take but still… he misses it immediately. “She didn’t have any other clothes and the clothes she came with had minions on it. Fucking minions, Rick. I couldn’t just force her to wear them again—that’s called fucking abuse, Rick.”

Rick ignores everything Negan says, like he always does. “I’m surprised you managed to change her diaper—Negan!” Rick cuts himself off with a whisper yell. “You taped it on!”

“No!” Negan whisper yells back, and he even has the audacity to looks sheepish, that adorable bastard. Rick will snap his neck right then and there if he blushes too because that’s just too much. “I fucking googled how to do it and I was doing good but then—look—Rick, fucking give me a break alright, I made sure that the tape didn’t touch her skin,” the man huffs out a breath, crossing his arms and avoiding Rick’s gaze.

And he blushes. Rick is either going to explode or commit murder.

He snaps out of it a few seconds later, clearing his throat. Negan is still successfully avoiding his eyes. “Did you feed her?”

“I didn’t have any baby shit and I figured she couldn’t eat leftover pizza.”

“Right,” Rick nods, and then just to see Negan smile again, he adds, “Nice call.”

Negan’s pout disappears instantly. “Fucking thanks, Rick,” the man beams at him, looking childlike and proud. “I didn’t even have to Google that one!”

What else can Rick do but smile back? “Does she have a name by the way?”

“Well, her name is apparently Brenda but Rick, can you imagine her as a Brenda? And what kind of a name is Brenda anyways, Rick? I’ll let you know that that’s fucking abuse, Rick, Ricky, I will not ruin my child’s life by naming her fucking Brenda,” Negan rambles, always passionate about the dumbest things. “Anyways I’ve been calling her Baby.”

“Baby,” Rick repeats dryly. “Because that’s definitely better than Brenda.”

Negan rolls his eyes dramatically. “Look, it fucking suits her, alright, just fucking look at her—and she is awake!” Negan interrupts himself, eyes lighting up when they look down to see Baby looking up at them.

Well. Baby is definitely a cute baby, not that Rick expected anything less from Negan’s perfect fucking genes. “I should pick her up, right?” Negan asks, sounding unsure.

“Well, not really—”

“Wow, I can’t believe I have to do this,” Negan speaks over Rick, already bending down to pick Baby up. Rick stands close incase anything happens, but Negan already has experience with holding babies at least, thanks to Carl.

“Look Rick,” Negan whispers in a soft tone turning Baby towards Rick. “She has my fucking eyes, right?” The man asks, lifting his eyebrows and widening his eyes so Rick can see better, as if Rick doesn’t know what color his friend of twelve year’s eyes are.

Rick is weak because he doesn’t have the guts to tell Negan that no, his blue-eyed baby does not have his hazel eyes. So, he just smiles awkwardly. It’s kind of worth it when Negan smiles back.

“And she smells fucking amazing too, just like her fucking daddy—” Negan gets interrupted by a wail that echoes inside Rick’s head.

The man’s head snaps up suddenly, pure panic and helplessness in his eyes. The first tear makes its way down Baby’s cheek. “Do something!” Negan yells suddenly, thrusting Baby into Rick’s chest -somehow, he manages to do it gently- and Rick glares.

“No, Negan, you should do something,” He tries to reason over the sound of Baby crying, but Negan keeps looking at him with that miserable expression. “You have to learn at some point.”

“Rick, Ricky, I fucked up and you have to fucking fix it, Rick, there is a baby crying, Baby is crying, Rick!” Negan thrusts Baby forward again, and Rick flinches when spit from her mouth lands on his face. “Fix it!”

“No, Negan, come on, just hold her, alright, it will be f—” Rick’s words get choked up on his throat when Negan’s bottom lip starts wobbling, eyes getting teary.

“I can’t stand the image of her fucking crying, Rick. Just look at her! I can’t fucking—just—she looks like she is pain, Rick!” Rick thinks Negan is being a little dramatic, but he can’t look away from Negan’s puppy eyes, as if he is in a trance. “Just take her alright? I will pay you back, Rick, I will fucking—I will suck your dick, Rick!”

“You—what—no—Negan!” Rick squeals, blushing furiously and trying to hide it behind his hand by rubbing the bridge of his nose. He gives himself a few seconds to breathe because he might be immune to normal Negan, but he is yet to develop a defense mechanism against shirtless puppy eyes ‘I will do anything’ Negan.

“It was worth a fucking try,” Negan mutters, mostly to himself, and Rick rolls his eyes. He watches as Negan brings Baby closer to his chest, biting down on his bottom lip. Negan looks even better shirtless and holding a cute baby. Damn him. “I’m only doing this just so I can ‘I fucking said so’ when it doesn’t fucking work.”

Rick snorts. “Try rocking her and relax a little, will you? Babies can tell when you are nervous.”

“She can’t even walk but sure, she can tell when I’m fucking stressed,” Negan mutters under his breath, and Rick refrains from muttering something back.

A few seconds pass. “Nope!” Negan yells out, “This isn’t gonna fucking work, Rick—what if there is something wrong with her? Why the fuck is she crying? Rick? You should totally fucking take a look, Rick.”

“Negan shut the fuck up and look at her,” Rick says without even rolling his eyes once. He should get an award for that because damn, that’s hardcore.

Negan’s lowers his head until he is looking at Baby, and the panicked look leaves his face when he sees her looking back with big blue eyes, no longer filled with tears. “Why the fuck were you crying if you didn’t have anything wrong with you, Baby?” Negan baby talks -baby talks!- with a smile, like all his worries are suddenly forgotten. It is a strange sight. One that makes Rick’s gets butterflies in his stomach like he is in high school again.

Negan’s hair is still a mess and his glasses are still crooked, but he is holding Baby against his chest like she is the only thing that matters in the world and when Rick stares he can only see pure love in Negan’s hazel eyes. The man looks up, as if sensing Rick’s gaze burning him, and the smile adorning his lips is proud and relieved, and god fucking damn it, Rick is so in love it hurts.

He doesn’t know how long they stare at each other like that, but he is the one to snap out of it, before Negan starts questioning why Rick is staring at him all creepy like. Before he can clear his throat awkwardly Negan does it, turning his gaze to the floor and glaring at it, probably uncomfortable with the way Rick was drooling over him a second ago.

“She is probably just angry that we woke her up,” Rick offers, voice high pitched with nervousness. “We should let her sleep and one of us can go and get her something to eat for when she wakes up.”

“Sounds like a fucking plan, Rick,” Negan replies too fast and avoids Rick’s eyes as he puts Baby back in her carriage. She is already closing her eyes, ready to doze off.

A comfortable silence settles between them as they watch Baby sleep for a little while, blissfully quiet and like the outside world doesn’t exist. “I’m probably gonna have to watch my fucking mouth around her, right?” Negan whispers into the silence, and his voice is weirdly soft.

Rick chuckles. “Have you had your crisis out of the way yet or should I look forward to a tantrum?”

“I cried it out, Rick, and it was manly tears thank you, not a fucking tantrum. I still think I’m too fucking young to have a kid but well… I should have learned to fucking pull out, I guess,” Negan shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“You are forty, Negan,” Rick deadpans. Negan’s face falls into a pout instantly. “Which is in fact, pretty young!” Rick squeals, so that Negan will stop pouting. Damn that man has some serious power over him.

Negan smiles, satisfied. Rick wishes he didn’t have to say it, but he does, so he sighs, ruffling his hair. Negan stiffens, recognizing the signs of ‘Depression Rick’. “Look, Negan, we have to call the police, and… stuff.”

It’s not the best speech Rick has come up with, but he guesses that it will do. “I mean—I fucking know that, Rick.”

“Right. And abandoning a baby is illegal, so they will probably try to find the mom and she might want her back, but I don’t know if they will give her back—”

“Wait. No. Fuck that. I’m not just gonna—what, give her away? No fucking way. She abandoned her! She doesn’t get to just change her mind, Rick!” Negan crosses his arms in front of his chest, but this time it looks more like it’s for comfort than it’s out of annoyance.

“I don’t know, Negan, this stuff doesn’t really happen outside of TV shows or movies,” Rick licks his lips, trying to think. “Look, the mom getting her back is the worst-case scenario but most probably they will do a paternity test, see you are the dad, and then let you adopt her! That makes the most sense. And if they try to give her back to the mom we could—I guess we could try to sue?”

“What if I’m not the fucking father?” Negan asks, hushed, and million questions spring to Rick’s mind because is that even a possibility?”

He swallows them all. “You could still adopt her—”

“What if I’m not the father and they give her back to Amber?” Negan interrupts, eyes worried and wide and green and Rick wishes he had answers because he wants Negan to smile again. He wishes he could fix this.

He opens his mouth, closes it. He can’t really think of a reply. “Let’s not think about this now, alright?” Negan is pale, and he looks like he is about to faint. “Let’s just sit down for a while,” Rick can’t really think of anything else, so he and Negan fall to the ground, leaning back to the sofa with their shoulders touching.

Rick shouldn’t focus on their shoulders touching -and their thighs- but he does. Negan is shirtless, and Rick can still feel his warmth from behind his shirt. “Is that a way to say, ‘you would have to eat your own fucking dick and accept it and move on’ because it sounds awfully like you are trying to fucking distract me, Rick.”

“No,” Rick denies instantly. “Can we just—”

“But you know what? Maybe that would be the best-case scenario because why would she want a father like me anyways? I wouldn’t make a good fucking father, Rick. I don’t have what it fucking takes, I just have a pullout game that’s fucking weak, Rick, you know what I mean? And she needs her mom, probably. And how would I take care of a baby all alone anyways, Rick? I couldn’t make that single father shit work, Rick, Ricky, I don’t—I wasn’t made for this, you know—”

“No, Negan,” Rick interrupts Negan’s rambling because that rambling is what Negan does when he realizes that he lost something, someone he cares about, and there is no way of getting them back. But he hasn’t lost Baby yet, and chances are, he won’t. “She needs you. Not her mother who abandoned her. You. Because you didn’t abandon her. And I won’t let you because I know you don’t want to. And the single father thing? You are an idiot if you think we would let you do this alone. You have Arat, Laura, Dwight, Sherry, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Aaron—”

“Rick,” Negan groans, throwing his head back and closing his eyes as if he is in pain. For a brief second, Rick focuses on the man’s Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “Arat is too busy fucking Laura to even return my texts, Dwight and Sherry hate me, Michonne thinks I’m annoying, Maggie would slit my fucking throat without even blinking and Gl—”

“That’s not true!” Rick whisper yells, because he can’t believe that Negan actually believes that everyone would abandon him like that. “We are family, Negan. Family takes care of each other. We would take care of you and Baby. And if somehow everybody decides they hate you for some reason, you will have me, right? Carl was a difficult baby, so I could give you some tips, and we would—we would make it work—we will make it work. You will see.”

For at least half a minute, Negan just stares at Rick with a thoughtful expression, and after a while Rick starts shifting on the spot, not uncomfortable but more worried. He is not good with words and it would suck if he ended up screwing it up.

Finally, Negan smirks, the playful glint back in his eyes. “You gonna tell me your tips, Rick?” The man teases, “Teach me your secret fucking tricks?”

Rick can’t help the blush this time because fuck it, he is tired. “Yes, Negan. I will help you out,” he says as he moves his hand until it’s resting on Negan’s. The man’s eyes fall to their hands briefly before meeting Rick’s gaze again, but there is something else in his eyes, something that makes Rick’s heart beat in his ears, and in his throat, and his stomach gets those annoying butterflies again.

“What would I ever do without you, Rick?” Negan breathes out, and Rick thinks it might be just a tease, but it sounds heavier than that. Meaningful.

A beat. Rick doesn’t know who leans in first, but one seconds he is staring at Negan’s hazel eyes, dark green with the soft light of the room, the next his gaze falls to Negan’s lips, pink and so kissable, and then he feels those lips on his own.

The kiss is soft and slow like there is no rush, like they have all the time in the world. It’s not what someone would expect Negan to kiss like after just meeting the man, but Rick knows after all these years, that Negan is a hopeless romantic at heart.

Negan’s lips are soft, and the man tastes like coffee and minty toothpaste, a taste Rick didn’t think he would like but finds that he adores. Negan’s lips taste like coming home, and Rick feels like he is chasing a high that he could never reach before when their tongues meet in an embrace that makes Rick feel like he is the only person in the whole worlds. Like he was made for kissing Negan, and Negan was made for kissing Rick, and finally they are complete.

When Negan’s hand reaches out to Rick’s neck the touch is gentle, a loving caress that feels so intimate that if Rick had any breath in his lungs he would lose it. Negan’s kiss feels like everything because Rick has been waiting too long for it and it was so worth it.

“We probably shouldn’t do this in front of her,” Negan breathes out after breaking the kiss, their faces still close and his hand is still warm against Rick’s neck. Rick wonders if Negan can feel his pulse, he wonders if the man’s own pulse is racing.

“She is too young to understand,” Rick replies, maybe a little too desperately because fuck, he is desperate for Negan to kiss him again.

It makes Negan smile, all dimples and white teeth, and there is a blush high on the man’s cheek, one that makes Rick’s heart race in his chest so fast that he momentarily gets dizzy. “Because of me,” he thinks, as Negan’s breath fans his face. “I did that.”

“Well, you are the fucking boss, Rick,” Negan waggles his eyebrows suggestively, and Rick is pretty much a tomato at this point, but he feels even the tip of his ears heat up at that.

“Shut up and kiss me, Negan,” he says. So, Negan does.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> totally not inspired by Baby Daddy (TV Series 2012-2017)


End file.
